Non-run seamless hosiery



A ril 3, 1962 R. M. MATTHEWS ETAL 3,027,737

NON-RUN SEAMLESS HOSIERY 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 20, 1961 ROBERT M. MATTHEWS JULE W- KWLO/P Mm? LPa/moZZ' A ril 3, 1962 R. M. MATTHEWS ETAL 3,027,737

NON-RUN SEAMLESS HOSIERY Filed Nov. 20, 196]. 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 woe/rm R0557??? M. MATT/9W5 401,5 W. KAYLOR an?! PM W April 1962 R. M. MATTHEWS ETAL 3,027,737

NON-RUN SEAMLESS HOSIERY 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. 20, 1961 FIG. 6

awe/rm ROBE/2T M. MATTHEWS JULE W- KAYLO/Z L LPWZZ April 3, 1962 R. M. MATTHEWS ETAL 3,027,737

NON-RUN SEAMLESS HOSIERY Filed Nov. 20, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 awe/rm ROBERT M. MATTHEWS JULE W- KAYLUR April 1962 R. M. MATTHEWS ETAL 3,027,737

NON-RUN SEAMLESS HOSIERY 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 20, 1961 m wmI INVENTORS ROBERT M. MA TTHEWS JZ/LE W Mina/a BY PM ATTORNEY 3,027,737 NQN-RUN SEAMLESS HOSIERY Robert M. Matthews, Charlotte, N.C., and Jule W. Kaylor, Ellijay, Ga., assignors to Chadbourn Gotham, Inc., a corporation of North Carolina Filed Nov. 20, 1961, Ser. No. 153,633 5 Claims. (Cl. 66-172) This invention relates to non-run seamless hosiery and more particularly to the leg and foot portions of a ladies seamless nylon stocking that will not run in any direction when the stocking is snagged or picked or even when the stocking is punctured with a sizeable hole. This is the first time in the history of seamless nylon stockings that this long desired objective has been accomplished, despite numerous efforts across the years.

Another feature of the stocking of the present invention, which has been made practical for the first time in seam less nylon hosiery, is that of pulling out a snagged yarn without causing a run in the stocking or leaving any perceptibledefect when the stocking is viewed at normal viewing distances between the wearer and the observer.

No seamless nylon stockings previously available on the market or disclosed in prior patents or in the literature, as far as we are informed, possesses either of the above mentioned features of being completely non-run, or capable of removing snagged yarns therefrom without visible damage to the stocking.

In the usual plain stitch seamless stocking, when a substantial snag occurs anywhere in the leg of the stocking, a run will commonly develop and extend both upward and downward from the snagged point.

In the best prior run-resistant seamless nylon stockings using a special stitch construction, a substantial snag in the leg of the stocking will cause a run in one direction, i.e. upward from the snagged point. In other words, prior attempts to produce a non-run seamless nylon stocking have succeeded only partially in preventing the stocking from developing a run downward from the snagged point. Manifestly, this improvement over conventional seamless nylon stockings, which run in both directions, is not a complete answer to the problem because runs originating anywhere below the hemline of the wearer will show the upward extension of the run, even though it does not extend downward from the snag.

Prior to the advent of nylon yarn and its substitution for silk, cotton and rayon yarns previously used in the knitting of ladies hosiery, unsuccessful attempts were made to produce a non-run stocking knitted from silk, cotton or rayon yarns. An example of such an attempt is disclosed in E. C. Lochhead Patent No. 2,100,861, issued November 30, 1937, on an application filed October 27, 1932. That patent discloses knitted fabrics generally and includes a ladies stocking knitted from silk, cotton or rayon yarns using a combination of plain stitches and tuck and float stitches. At the time of the Lochhead patent application, in 1932, nylon yarn was not available, and the knitting machines then in use were course gauge, having about 240 needles. This is in contrast to the nylon yarns and the fine gauge 400 needle seamless hosiery machines utilized in producing the non-run seamless sheer nylon hosiery of the present invention.

For producing the non-run nylon stocking of the present invention, it is important to utilize a knitted pattern in which the tuck stitches in one needle wale are tied to tuck stitches in each immediately adjacent needle Wale; and to have a relatively large number of tuck and float stitches in comparison with the number of plain stitches. In addition, the shape, size and arrangement of the tuck and float stitches are set during the conventional boarding, dyeing and finishing operations, so that they will remain intact throughout the life of the stocking to assure the non-run property of the present invention.

nite States Patent Another feature of the knitted pattern, containing interconnected tuck and float stitches in adjacent wales, in the stocking of the present invention, is the formation of markedly small plain stitches at the bight of each tuck stitch. Each of these small stitches forms a constriction point or what might be termed a run stop, adjacent the bight of the loop of each tuck stitch, in each needle Wale throughout the knitted stocking. This multiplicity of constriction points assists in rendering the stocking of the present invention non-run in all directions.

For knitting the non-run nylon seamless stocking of the present invention, we have found that the operation may be carried out successfully on a seamless knitting machine of the type manufactured by Scott & Williams, Inc. of Laconia, New Hampshire, and the basic principles of which are disclosed in Scott Patent No. 1,282,958, issued October 29, 1918. The current design of this machine is illustrated and described in an Instruction Manual entitled Model KN Machine published by Scott & Williams, Inc. in January, 1955, and in their Parts Catalogue published June 1955. These Scott & Williams, Inc. publications illustrate and describe the Model KN Machine which we have found best suited for knitting the non-run seamless stocking of the present invention.

The Scott & Williams Model KN Machine employs 400, gauge needles. For obtaining the desired non-run uniform knitted pattern of the present invention free of rings, broken pattern areas and other distortions, we use a machine equipped with the so-called forward hook needles. An example of the forward hook needle is the one known in the trade as Arrow No. 3962, which is manufactured by Textile Machine Works, of Reading, Pennsylvania. This type of needle was produced commercially by Torrington Needle Company, Torrington, Connecticut, at least as early as 1953.

The forward hooked end of this needle facilitates the laying-in of the float yarn behind alternate needles during the operation of the 400 needle Model KN Machine. For knitting the non-run uniform pattern, seamless nylon hose of the present invention, using these forward hook needles, we employ, as one of the nylon yarns, a torque yarn that has been twisted sufficiently to impart to the yarn a marked torque or tendency to untwist in the direction opposite to the twist. This type of yarn is disclosed in Burleson and Holmes US. Patent No. 2,771,757, issued November 27, 1956, and in Leath and Bobo Patent No. 2,771,733, issued November 27, 1956.

In the operation of the Model KN Machine, in which the needles are rotated in a counterclockwise direction, a torque yarn having an S torque is used to assure deposition of the torque yarn in floating position behind alternate needles. It is to be understood that the torque of the yarn, whether 8 or Z, is opposite in direction to the direction in which the yarn is twisted. For example, the abovementioned 8 torque yarn will have been twisted in a Z direction. In a typical example, sufficient torque is obtained for the purpose of the present invention by twisting 7 or 10 denier monofilament nylon yarn about 2030 turns per inch, as described in the Burleson et a1. and Leath et al. patents, supra.

The initial important function of the nylon torque yarn, which is used for the float yarn in the knitted fabric, is to cause this yarn to dispose itself behind the float needles, on the side opposite the hook, so that it is not engaged by the hook in the knitting operation.

The above features of the forward hook needles and the use of torque yarn assure a uniform knitted pattern and a non-run stocking produced therefrom.

The non-run seamless sheer nylon hosiery of the present invention could not have been accomplished in prior times, or now, using the course gauge knitting machines and the non-torque silk, cotton and rayon yarns which ICC 3 were in use at the time of the above Lochhead patent. Furthermore, even if present day nylon yarn were used in knitting the seamless hosiery, the satisfactory completely non-run characteristics of the hosiery of the present invention could not be obtained without employing a torque nylon yarn for the yarn end which forms the tuck and float stitches. If non-torque nylon yarn is used for the tuck and float stitches, as well as the plain stitches, and the hosiery knitted on the current fine gauge knitting machines, it would be practically impossible to float one of the yarn ends behind every other needle, considering the minute clearances involved between needles, and a non-uniform knitted pattern would result because the non-torque nylon yarn end intended to form the float and tuck stitches on every other needle would fall in front of the needles, and would be knitted as a plain stitch, rather than as a float and tuck stitch, and would thereby render the fabric susceptible to runs in these areas. The completely non-run feature of the present invention is accomplished by floating the torque nylon yarn behind every other needle to give the required relatively large number of float and tuck stitches, as compared with plain stitches, and to render the knitted pattern uniform throughout the fabric.

In addition to the above described non-run feature of the nylon stocking of the present invention, this stocking also possesses the remarkable property of permitting a snagged yarn to be removed from the stocking simply by pulling the snagged yarn until it breaks and then removing the short bro-ken yarn from the stocking.

The yarn which is used in the seamless non-run stocking of the present invention may be either monofilament or multifilament nylon yarn, or other known inherently beat settable yarns which will permit the stocking knitted therefrom to have the stitches set by the heat encountered in the boarding, dyeing, and finishing operations, as distinct from stockings knitted from yarns such as silk, cotton and rayon, that do not have set stitches.

As is well known, sheer nylon hose are produced in largest quantity today, and the seamless form of hose is very popular. These sheer seamless stockings are susceptible to being snagged or otherwise darn-aged when the stockings are being put on and when they are worn. Accordingly, there is a great current need for a seamless stocking that will not run, irrespective of how severely it is-damaged, and which is also adaptable for removing snagged threads there-from without visibly affecting the appearance of the stocking. Both of these desirable results are accomplished by the new stocking of the present invention.

A more detailed understanding of the present invention will be obtained by reference to the following specific description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a photograph of a ladies conventional plain stitch seamless nylon stocking pulled over a leg form and showing extensive runs in both directions from a snagged point;

FIG. 2 is a photograph of a ladies run resistant seamless nylon mesh knit stocking pulled over a leg form and showing an extensive run upward from a snagged point;

FIG. 3 is a photograph of a ladies seamless non-run nylon stocking of the present invention, pulled over a leg form and showing a large hole in the leg of the stocking,

but no runs in any direction from this severe damage to the stocking;

FIG. 4 is a photograph of the stocking of the present invention, like the stocking illustrated in FIGURE 3, but showing a typical snagged yarn in the leg portion of the stocking and which has not resulted in any runs;

FIG. 5 is a photograph of the same stocking illustrated in FIGURE 4 after the snagged yarn has been removed, by pulling out, from the stocking, resulting in a complete removal of the snag and without any perceptible damage to the stocking at normal viewing distances;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged inverted photograph of the small portion indicated by the dotted line area in the calf of the stocking illustrated in FIGURE 3, and showing the special stitch construction of the non-tun stocking of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged photograph of a portion of a stocking of the present invention, like the stocking illustrated in FIGURE 3, but utilizing a modification of the stitch construction illustrated in FIGURE 6;

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic illustration of a few of the forward hook needles as arranged around a circular needle cylinder (not shown) and illustrating the positioning of the n0n-torque nylon body yarn and the torque nylon float yarn in front of and behind, respectively, of the forward hook needles.

Referring further to the several figures in the drawings and generally in the order in which they appear, a conventional seamless nylon stocking is shown on a leg form mounted on a base 1 in FIG. 1. This stocking comprises a welt, not shown, an afterwelt 2, a leg or boot 3 and a foot 4. As shown in this actual photograph, a snag or damaged point 5 develops a run 6 extending upward from the snag, and a similar run 7 extending downward from the snag. This'illus-tration is representative oi the susceptibility to runs of ladies conventional seamless nylon stockings which are knit with conventional plain stitch construction and without any provisions for resisting runs. a The stocking illustrated in FIGURE 2 is representative of prior art run-resist seamless nylon stockings in which a special stitch construction has been incorporated to resist runs from occurring from a snagged portion of the stocking. The stocking pulled over a leg form mounted on a base 8 comprises a welt, not shown, an afterwert 9, a leg or boot 10, and a foot '11. The snag point is shown at 12 and running upward from the snag is a run 13 which extends through the sheer leg portion 10, through the afterwelt 9, and welt, not shown. The runresist stitch construction utilized in this stockingis, as indicated, effective for preventing a run downward in the stocking from the snag 12 but does not prevent a run from extending upward as shown at 13.

Referring now to the stocking of the present invention in FIGURE 3, it is shown pulled over a leg form mounted on a base 14. The stocking comprises a leg or boot portion 15, an afterwelt 16, a welt, not shown, and a foot portion or section 17. In this particular stocking, the foot portion 17 is knitted as an integral extension of the leg 15 but the foot portion may be knitted with conventional toe and heelsections, where desired.

The snag or in this case severely damaged part of the leg of the stocking, consists of a sizeable hole or puncture, shown at 18. As indicated in this picture, this severe damage to the leg of the stocking has not resulted in a run either upward or downward or in any other direction, and this is so even when the stocking is pulled or stretched at the damaged point 18. The sizeable hole shown at 13 is substantially larger than would normally be encountered in use of stockings but has purposely been shownhere as an extreme example of damage to the stocking without resulting in any run.

In FIGURE 4 of the drawing, a stocking of the present invention is shown on a stocking form mounted on abase 23. This stocking comprises a leg portion 19 and a foot portion 24. Shown at 20 in the leg portion of the stocking is a typical illustration of the type of damage commonly encountered in the use of conventional sheer nylon hose and which adversely affects the beauty of the hose, namely a snagged thread. Also, the snagged thread becomes more susceptible to catching on objects touched by the wearer of the stocking and increasing the snag to the point of causing a run in a conventional stocking. The wearer of such stocking sometimes attempts to prevent the snag from developing a run by smoothing the snag by hand or applying some binding solution to the snag. However, once a snag occurs in the prior form of seamless stockings, there is nothing which can be done to assure the wearer that the snag will not develop a run.

In accordance with the present invention a snag such as illustrated at 20 in FIGURE 4 need not be smoothed by hand or coated with a binding solution. Instead it may be removed by the wearer simply by catching the snag between the fingers and pulling the snagged thread sufiiciently to break the thread and then removing the short broken thread from the stocking. The small area of the stocking from which the broken thread was removed is then stretched by hand to readjust the stitches and eliminate any apparent damage to the stocking. This result is indicated in the photograph of the stocking shown in FIG. 5 which is the same stocking illustrated in FIG- URE 4 after the snagged thread 20 has been removed and the stitches readjusted by the simple hand operation above described. 'Ihis'leaves for'all practical purposes a perfectly appearing stocking 22. This procedure may be repeated many times in the stocking of the present invention without developing any runs and without appreciably marring the appearance of the stocking. Thus, a snagged or picked stocking may be simply and quickly repair'ed'by hand, while on the wearer, and thereafter worn without visible damage and without the usual necessity of having to discard the damaged stocking.

Referring now to FIGURE 6, the special stitch construction of the present invention utilized in the stocking shown in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5 described above, comprises a series of needle wales 25, 26, 27, 28, etc. Each of these needle wales comprises regularly recurring tuck stitches, such as shown at 29, 30 and 31 in needle wale 26. As shown in needle wale 27, there is a similar group of tuck stitches 32, 33 and 34 which are staggered with respect to the tuck stitches 29, 30 and 31 in the adjacent needle Wale 26. In needle wale 28, there is a similar group 'of tuck stitches 35, 36 and 7, which are staggered with respect to the tuck stitches 32, 33 and 34 in needle wale 27, but are not staggered, that is, they line up with the corresponding group of tuck stitches 29, 30 and 31 in needle wale 26.

The aforedescribed tuck stitches are knitted in courses marked A in FIG. 6. For each of the above mentioned tuck stitches, there are two floats, one float being in each of the courses B and C. As indicated in needle Wale 26, there are two floats 38 and 39, which are floated behind tuck stitch 29; floats 40 and 41 which are floated behind tuck stitch 30, and floats 42 and 43 which are floated behind tuck stitch 31. This arrangement of tuck stitches and floats repeats itself in the needle wales throughout the fabric. The floats indicated at 38, 4t) and 42 are formed by a torque yarn 47 that is present in each of the courses C, and the floats indicated at 39, 41 and 43 are likewise formed by the same torque yarn that is present in each of the courses B.

In between the tuck stitches in each wale, there are a series eof three plain stitches. These are indicated, for example, in needle wale 27 by the three plain stitches 44, 45 and 46, which are located between tuck stitches 32 and 33.

As above described, each plain stitch, and each tuck stitch, in the knitted fabric shown in FIGURE 6, and embodied in the non-run nylon stocking of the present invention, contains at least two nylon yarns, one being a non-torque nylon yarn and the other a torque nylon yarn. Because of the overlying disposition of the yarns illustrated in FIGURE 6, it is not possible to see each of the two yarns in each knitted stitch, but their presence is clearly indicated, for example, by the two yarns 47 and 48 in tuck stitch 49 shown in needle wale 50. The yarn 47 has been previously described as a torque yarn, and the yarn 48 is a non-torque yarn. The above referred to. nylon torque yarn 47 which constitutes one of the yarns used in the knitted fabric, is knitted in all of the plain stitches, such as stitches 44, 45 and 46 in needle wale 27, and is floated across all of the tuck stitches such as illustrated by the two floats 461 and 41, disposed in back of the tuck stitch 30 in needle wale 26.

The non-torque yarn 48, indicated at 38a, 40a and 42a is introduced into the same courses C with the torque yarn 47 that forms the floats 38, 40 and 42. The float torque yarn 47, indicated at 40 and 41, for example, is respectively combined with the 11011401 11116 yarn 48, indicated at 40a and 41a to form the plain stitches 44 and 45. The yarn portions 48a and 41a are both carried by the same needle that receives other portions of the yarns 47 and 48 of the tuck stitch 30, for example, so that all four yarn portions mentioned are knitted with the plain stitch 54, for example. This same pattern of knitting is followed throughout the fabric.

One of the characterizing features of the knitted fabric of the present invention and which contributes substantially to the non-run properties of the seamless nylon stocking, is the above mentioned interconnecting of tuck stitches in one needle wale with tuck stitches in an adjacent needle wale. This is illustrated for example by tuck stitch 51 in needle wale 27 being connected to tuck stitch 52 in needle wale 28 through the intermediary of the yarns indicated at 53.

Another characterizing feature of the non-run stocking fabric of the present invention, above mentioned, is the formation of a series of relatively small plain stitches at the top or bight of the loop of the tuck stitches and which occur throughout the fabric at those locations. These relatively small stitches are indicated at 54 at the top of tuck stitch 30 in needle wale 26 and at 55 at the top of tuck stitch 36 in needle wale 28, at 46 at the top of tuck stitch 33 in needle wale 27, and so on throughout the fabric. It will be noted that these plain stitches 54 and 55 are markedly smaller than the next two plain stitches 56 and 57 in needle wale 26, and plain stitches 58 and 59 in needle wale 28 and plain stitches 44 and 45 in needle wale 27. The yarn portions contained in the plain stitch 56 located just above the small stitch 54, and the yarn portions indicated at 40a and 41a would have to be pulled through that small stitch 54 to run. Because of the very limited size thereof, this small stitch 54 will resist pulling of the several yarn portions through the constriction and thereby prevent runs. Although the relatively small stitches 46, 54 and 55 appear to be of appreciable size in the photograph in FIGURE 6, it should be noted that this photograph, as well as the one in the succeeding FIGURE 7, is produced with a magnification of one hundred times the size of the original fabric from which the photographs were made. Accordingly, the actual size of the plain stitches 46, 54 and 55 in the knitted hosiery fabric is only of the size indicated in the stitches 46, 54 and 55 in FIGURE 6.

Refeiring now to FIGURE 7, the knitted fabric shown therein is the same as that described just above and illustrated in FIGURE 6 with the following exceptions. In each needle wale 6t), 61 and 62, there are four plain stitches disposed between succeeding tuck stitches, as compared with the three plain stitches in FIGURE 6; and there are three floats behind each tuck stitch, as compared with the two floats behind each tuck stitch in FIGURE 6. Examples of the above mentioned four plain stitches, between tuck stitches, are shown at 63, 64, 65 and 66 in needle wale 60 between tuck stitches 67 and 68. The above mentioned three floats behind each tuck stitch in each wale are shown at 69, 79 and 71 floated behind tuck stitch 72 in needle wale 62. The increase in the number of floats, from two to three, per tuck stitch, in the fabric of FIGURE 7, as compared with the fabric of FIGURE 6, is conducive to even greater non-run properties in the seamless nylon stocking made from the fabric of FIGURE 7. The knitted pattern of FIGURE 7 gives a stocking which is slightly more dense, that is less sheer, than the stocking made from the fabric in FIGURE 6 but is, nevertheless, relatively sheer and attractive in appearance when worn.

and 83 in their hooks.

An illustrative but non-limiting example of the yarns used in knitting the stocking of the present invention, is denier monofilament nylon yarn for the non-torque body yarn, and 7 denier monofilament nylon torque yarn for the other yarn. More than two yarns may be used and up to the practical limitations of the knitting machine to handle numerous yarn ends. Also, the denier of each yarn may vary such as, for example, 7 to 30 denier.

FIG. 8 which illustrates the manner of floating the torque yarn behind alternate needles shows schematically the yarn feeding portion of a Scott and Williams Model KN Machine in which a non-torque yarn 81 is fed by yarn finger 82 and a torque yarn 83 is fed by float yarn finger 84. This figure is similar to FIG. 3 of US. Patent No. 1,772,230.

Alternate needles 73, 74, 75 and 76, which areto form tuck stitches, approach the yarn feeding positionata lower level than intervening needles 77, '78, 79 and '80. Said alternate needles, which received both yarns 81 and 83 in their hooks in the preceding course, are raised to tuck level in front of the torque yarn 83 so that they take only the non-torque yarn '81 in their hooks. The yarn 83, because of its torque, is biassed inwardly which, together with the forward inclination of the needle hooks, ensures that the yarn will float behind the alternate needles. The intervening needles 77, 78, 79 and 80 approach the yarn feed at the latch clearing level and take both yarns 81 All needles move to stitch drawing position but only needles 77,78, 79 and 80 cast off.

The above-described operationisrepeated for one or two courses depending on whether the fabric of FIG. 6 orFIG. 7 is being knit. On the next succeeding course the operation is reversed. That is, needles 73, 74, 75 and 76 are now raised to latch clearing position and needles 77, 78, 79 and 80 are raisedto tuck level only at the yarn feed whereby the torque yarn 83 floats behind the latter needles and tuck'stitches are formed'thereon, which tuck stitches may extend through three or more courses.

The above knitting sequences are repeated'throughout the knitting of the stocking.

In setting up the above referred to Scott & Williams Model KN Machine equipped with 400, 75 gageyforward hook needles, to knit the fabric illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, we carry .outthe following conventional steps:

(a) Remove thedrum cams and put the conventional float finger in operationto form float stitches inthe leg and foot portion of the stocking.

(b) Set the pattern chain for effecting knitting of the stocking to the desired length.

(0) Remove the butts from the selector drum jacks and .pattern jacks to obtain the knitting pattern design of FIG. 6 or FIG. 7.

(d) Thread the float finger in the usual manner with a float yarn, which in this instance is a nylon torque yarn.

(e) Thread the body yarn finger in the usual manner with a non-torque. nylon yarn.

(1) Thread the welt yarn finger, heel and toe yarn finger and looper margin yarn finger in the usual manner with appropriate yarns.

It is to be understood that the foregoing description and the illustrations in the drawings are for illustrative purposes only and that the scope of this invention is to be limited only by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Knitted seamless non-run nylon hosiery which is characterized by a uniform knitted pattern free of rings, broken pattern areas, and other distortions that would render the hosiery subject to runs and unsaleable in appearance, said non-run hosiery preventing runs in all directions in the hosiery from snagged yarns or even punctures in the hosiery, said hosiery comprising courses and wales of knitted stitches with two yarns in each stitch, each wale having regularly recurring tuck stitches separated by plain stitches, the tuck stitches in immediately adjacent wales being staggered with respect to each other, one only of said yarns being a nylon torque yarn, said nylon torque yarn being knitted in all of said plain stitches and floated across all of said tuck stitches.

2. Knitted seamless non-run nylon hosiery which is characterized by a uniform knitted pattern free of rings, broken pattern areas, and other distortions that would render the hosiery subject to runs and unsaleable in appearance, said non-run hosiery preventing runs in all directions in the hosiery from snagged yarns. or'even punctures in the hosiery, said hosiery comprising courses and wales of knitted stitches with two yarns in each stitch, each wale having regularly recurring tuck stitches separated by plain stitches, the tuck stitchesin immediately adjacent wales being staggered with respect to each other, and each tuck stitch in one wale beingtieddirectly-to a tuck stitch in each adjacent wale, one only of said yarns being a nylon torque yarn, said nylon torque .yarn'heing knitted in all-of said plain stitches and floatedacrossallof said tuck stitches.

3. Knitted seamless non-run nylon hosiery which is charaoterizedby, a uniform knitted pattern free of rings, broken pattern areas, and othendistortions that would renderithehosiery subjectto runsand unsaleable in appearance, said non-run hosiery preventing runs in .all directions .in the hosiery from snagged yarns or even punctures in the hosiery, said hosiery comprising courses and wales of knitted stitcheswith two yarns in, each stitch, each wale having regularly recurring tuck stitches separated by plain stitches, the tuck stitches in immediately adjacent wales being staggered with respect to each other, one only of said yarns being a monofilarnent nylon torque yarn, said nylon torque yarn beingknitted in all of said plain stitches and floated across all of. said tuck stitches.

4. Knitted seamless non-runnylon hosiery which is characterized by a uniform knitted pattern free of rings, broken pattern areas, andotherdistortions that would render the hosiery subject to runs and unsaleable in appearance, said non-run hosiery preventing runs in all directions in the hosiery from snagged yarns or even punctures in the hosiery, said hosiery comprising courses and wales of knitted stitchesiwith two yarns in each stitch, each wale having regularly recurring tuck stitches separated by plain stitches, the tuck; stitches inimmediately adjacent wales being staggered with respect to each other and the tuck sitches in. each wale beingsepa-rated from each other by three plain stitches, one onlyv ofsaid yarns being a nylon torque yarn, said nylon torque yarnbeing knitted in all of said plain stitches and floated across all of said tuck stitches.

5. Knitted seamless non-run nylon hosiery which is characterized by a uniform knitted pattern free of rings, broken pattern areas, and other distortions that would render the hosiery subjectto runs and unsaleable in appearance, said non-run hosiery preventing runs in all directions in the hosiery from snagged yarns oreven punctures in the hosiery, said hosiery comprising courses and wales of knitted stitches with two yarns in each stitch, each wale having regularly recurring tuck stitches separated by plain stitches, the tuck stitches in immediately adjacent wales being staggered with respect to each other and the tuck stitches in each wale being separated from each other by four plain stitches, one only of said yarns being a nylon torque yarn, said nylon torque yarn being knitted in all of said plain stitches and floated across all of said tuck stitches.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,780,831 Leyton et a1 Nov. 4, 1930 2,100,861 Lochhead Nov. 30, 1937 2,191,883 Fleisher Feb. 27, 1940 2,887,860 Bellman May 26, 1959 2,994,214 Wood et al Aug. 1, 1961 

